I had so much fun being a part of the Walkabout Woods crew in 2011, that I was inspired to create some Playa magic. We've finally got a small crew together to start building this installation to bring to Burning Man. The Serendipity Outpost is an interactive gifting experience.

Inside the Outpost you turn the crank of the Gifting Machine. The “What Wheel” and “When Wheel” spin into action creating a cacophony of light and sound. The “Who Ball” drops from its dispenser and clatters through a maze, coming to a rest as the two wheels stop spinning. Markers on the wheels tell you “What” you will be gifting and “When” you’ll be doing it. Finally the “Who Ball” tells you who you’ll be giving it to, “A person in a red tutu” or “The last person in line at Center Camp Cafe” for example.

Somewhere on The Playa all three will align to create a new episode of serendipity. You just add your own creativity to the experience. You can be funny, profound, endearing, witty or downright silly. It’s Burning Man, after all!

The actual gifting machine will be at least 10 feet tall and 13 feet wide. We are still working out the "Who Ball" dispenser (not seen in image), thinking along the lines of a giant gumball release knob.

Also, it would be kind of cool if you had any stories of playa Serendipity and gifting (or rather Playadipity) that you wanted to share. I'd love to have a category dedicated to that on the Serendipity Blog. Just message me on ePlaya with the story and I'll put it up on the blog. If you have an image to illustrate it, send me the link too.

Why don't ya stick your head in that hole and find out? ~pieholePlan for the worst, expect the best. Make the most out of it under any conditions. If you cannot do that you will never enjoy yourself. ~CrispyDave

We've requested middle playa. We want it to truly be an outpost but not necessarily by the trash fence. It's going to be so much fun! Please find us and allow the Gifting Machine to start you on an adventure!

There's a crew meeting today. The crew hasn't seen the surface design yet. It should get everyone really excited. We've been working from the small wooden model to make the bigger one. The big wheel is going to be 6 feet across. We have some grand plans for the mechanism.

We are fully embracing Serendipity as we create the project. Magical things happen when you do!

illy dilly, do you or anyone reading have a serendipitious gifting experience you'd like to share? I want to collect them on the project site, so people can get a sense of the magic of serendipity out on the Playa.

If you want a fun gifting experience story, a friend in 2010 was gifted what he described as some of the hottest chilli he'd ever tasted at a theme camp.

As he walked away a few minutes later, his mouth reeling, completely by chance and without them knowing what he was going through, someone came by and offered him a frozen smoothie which was the perfect antidote.

Hi carefactornil,I'm going to add that to the site. Thanks. I love these stories.

And now on a happy note: I now have a kickstarter campaign launched for the project. I had a bit of a set back on Tuesday when I went to launch, I didn't have my amazon account verified, thought it would take another week and a half to sort it out, but it only took two days. Thank you universe.

Thanks! I spoke to my friend again and he told me he had an even better story than the one I mentioned (which was actually a bloody mary and not a chilli it seems, not that it makes much difference). Here's his story told by him:

"Even more amazing was loosing £3,000 worth of Nikon Camera Kit while I was fucked up on playa. I remember jumping on a mutant hillbilly house on wheels and going crazy only to realze half hr later out in deep playa that I did not have it. I tried for hrs to find it and eventually gave up. Some guy was playing guitar in a tent and I went over to have a jam with his spare guitar and my camera kit was there in the chair I was about to sit in. Believe it or not it really happened. Fucking amazing!!!!"

I remember meeting him after he found the camera again and how amazed he was, it''s a true story.

Folks I'd love more of these stories. We want to add them to the website. I love how the website now has the potential to honor Serendipity in all of it's magnificent manifestations with these stories. The website started off as a project update site and will carry on with these stories and reflections on Serendipity.